Microsoft Office Taps Android with Restrictions

Android Phone users with a valid Office 365 subscription will now be able to download Microsoft Office Mobile App, which enables them to create, edit and manipulate Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents with support for charts, animations, smartart and shapes without losing originality.

With the help of the app, you will be able to access and share office documents using email, SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro and SharePoint. Moreover, the documents from your computer are instantly available in the recent documents panel beacuse of the cloud connectivity with the ability to view and edit documents attached to email messages.

The Office mobile app enables you to read documents from the page where you stopped reading previously no matter where you viewed them - be it on your own PC or tablet. While the navigator view provides an ability to browse PowerPoint slides faster, speaker notes enables you to practice presentation.

As of the time of this writing, the app is available only for US residents and for those with a Android Phone. The app has been specifically developed for small screen devices and not for big display devices such as tablets.

In order to work with the app, you will be required to sign in with your Microsoft account to enable the app to recognize you as an Office 365 user and is compatible with the following plans offered by Office 365:

Home Premium

Small Business Premium

Midsize Business

Enterprise E3 and E4 (Enterprise and Government)

Education A3 and A4, ProPlus and University

Trial Subscriptions

Alternatively, Office Mobile is also available for Apple devices such as iPhones, iPad and iPod Touch for those with Office 365 subscription. It remains to be seen how many users will invest for Office 365 to use the recently released mobile app when there are free Android based apps for accessing office documents.